This may be my favourite comment in years, well done good sir!

Monkey Island?

How about the great poem? Boom boom boom, boom boom, boom boom boom....boom boom....boom.

Sausage? SAUSAGE?!?! OH, BLAST YER EYES!

Ha!!! Nice reference. I salute you :)

"Oh damn!" "What's that, sir?" "The Russians have pulled out of the war." "Ah! Well, we soon saw them off, didn't we? The slant-eyed, sausage-eating swine." "George, the Russians are on our side."

Gotta love any story that starts out with murderous intent then ends with friendship and forgiveness. In the words of Hal Emmerich: "It's just like one of my japanese anime!"

@@Roronoa2zoro thumbs up for the reference

That made my day .

What I'm getting from this story is they both had terrible friends. So I guess it's good they found each other.

Good god, I just laughed so hard I probably woke up the neighbors

So you would end up with a Monty Python situation of lots of men pretending to be women in order to attend.

@@sergarlantyrell7847 I think the communities were much smaller back then - the women would have known each other, you couldn't just disguise yourself and blend in.

@@weareallbornmad410 Yeah, but, knowing what men are like- being one myself and all, I imagine a fair few chaps would probably still have tried the old “Reverse Python” technique, if they’d heard that it was going to be a topless event; especially back then, when they didn’t have a smorgasbord of free boobage at their fingertips, as we do today...my god, it must have been hard times, indeed haha. (Also, I love your name; and, as a rather mad fellow myself, I agree with the sentiment completely haha) Hope you, and your nearest, and dearest, have been keeping safe, well, and sane, during these crazy times.🤞😀 Hopefully the light, that seems to be at the end of this very dark, shitty tunnel, isn’t just an approaching train of new misery heading straight for us...jeez, what a cheery sod I am haha. Anyway, all the very best. 👍😀

I've read of a number of duels and I have to say this is the most sensible one I've come across.

I'm reminded of one of Ed Byrne's superhero gags on MTW: "I am Patient Man! I exercise regularly, eat a high-fibre diet, and simply outlive my opponents!"

"They're getting away! What do we do, Patient Man?" "... We wait."

Up until the Trichinosis sets in that is.

I'm so sad they missed that pun

Prussian Rillette.

Fun fact: Bismarck was obsessed with dueling and in his younger years used to wander the streets covered in weapons and challenge random strangers.

But ironically significantly more dangerous

The duel is called off if anyone draws first blood... Always lubricate your weapons

Call me

Hahaha

Yes, and it was true even in the early 20th century. Some famous Nazi leaders had these scars. The swordfights, called Mensur, are practiced even now, but as a traditional sport, not for honour.

@@imokin86 Skorzeny comes to mind, but what other famous Nazi leaders had these scars?

@@RetiredBrass Kaltenbrunner and Roehm.

Interestingly they would make sure the scars did not heal properly as they needed to be seen. Duellists with such scars were highly regarded and gave them quite a career boost.

Interestingly in many countries the use of the rapier was banned by the duelling code because with its the long thin blade it was too easy to pierce the body right the way through, killing your opponent.

Here would come a witty reference from Ankh-Morpork, but I just can't think of one

They couldn't be used for a duel, there's a more than 50/50 chance of death with them.

Rat onna stick!

With or without ketchup?

@@fearlessfred67 rats expensive, luxury product.

I does is has to know

The weapon they used was the blunderbuss, so missing isn't that much of a surprise.

@@HarbingerOfTruth1 a blunderbuss is kind of shotgun. The farther away you are from the target, the more stuff you hit.

Presumably the inspiration for the duel in "Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines"! In that film, the antagonists each hit the other's ballon, and both plunged into the largest vat (?) of poo at the local sewage farm. Find and watch the film. All star cast, never a dull moment...

@@scottyj6226 No. The further you are, the larger the area of pellet spray. That doesn't mean more likely to hit, because the gaps between them are bigger too.. When you've got something as inaccurate as a blunderbuss, that distinction matters.

A little more detail for this one as it's a fascinating story. The man who challenged Lincoln was James Shields. Lincoln had embarrassed him with a bit of satire when Lincoln wrote a few letters to the editor of a newspaper that called one of Shields' decisions into question. As State Auditor, Shields had sided with the bankruptcy of the Illinois State Bank (the bank refused to accept paper currency and would only accept payments of gold and silver, which most of its customers did not have). Lincoln pretended to be a woman in his satirical letter, not only did he attack Shields' policy decision, Lincoln (as "Rebecca") also attacked his "pursuit of women". Upon showing Mary Todd his letters, Mary thought they were hilarious, and she too wrote a letter chastising Shields, who became incensed at the perceived insults. He demanded the editor tell him who was behind the letters, and, even though the editor was a friend of Lincoln, the editor told him... this only deepened his ire upon learning who was really behind the letters. Shields demanded Lincoln write a retraction. Lincoln was open to the idea of a retraction, but requested Shields rewrite his request "in a more gentlemanly fashion"... this enraged Shields. And so, the challenge to a duel was made forthwith. Since dueling was illegal in Illinois, the duel was to take place in Missouri. Lincoln not only chose _a sword,_ he specified *broadswords,* a weapon with a reputation for cleaving a man in half in a single blow... and he didn't just choose any old broadsword, but instead chose, _"cavalry broadswords of the largest size"..._ there would be no _"we'll stop at first blood"_ that would hopefully save whoever took the first hit. With this type of sword the duel stood a very large chance of ending in death. At best, the loser could hope for nothing worse than the permanent loss of an appendage. But, there were further conditions still... Lincoln also demanded that the duel be conducted in a pit, and in the middle of that pit there would be a wooden plank that neither duelist would be allowed to cross. Two gun-hands would be hired to stand atop the pit with instructions to shoot and kill the first man who, accidentally or otherwise, crossed that plank. It was only then that, when Shields arrived, Lincoln began making a show of jumping up and hacking limbs off the tree he was standing under. At 6'4", Lincoln was of course, very tall, lanky but also an extraordinarily muscular and nimble man. Lincoln had been a farmer for the majority of his life so he made sure to take his shirt off in order to show off the fact that he was fairly ripped (at least by 1842 standards)... Shields, on the other hand, was a bit doughy and stood only 5'9" tall. Lincoln would later say that he was not 100% sure that Shields would think better of it and call off the duel, however, Lincoln did not want to kill him either... he had hoped that, if forced to go through with it, he could disarm Shields and end it then an there. Upon seeing Lincoln's prowess with the sword and his ungodly reach (along with the advice of several gravely concerned onlookers), Shields was convinced to call a Truce. With only moments to spare, Shields asked Lincoln if they could perhaps take a moment to discuss their differences - you know... as gentlemen. Lincoln very graciously and very gratefully accepted. Two decades later, Shields was now a Brigadier General, and as President, Lincoln was now his boss. Shields delivered Stonewall Jackson's only loss during the Civil War (the Battle of Kernstown)... however, Shields was severely injured during the battle. For his success opposing Jackson, Lincoln nominated Shields for a promotion to Major General... symbolically ending any ill feeling either man may have still been harboring. Lincoln absolutely hated discussing the incident. At one point, an officer asked then President Lincoln if the dueling story was true. In response, Lincoln said, _"I won't deny it, but if you desire my friendship you will never bring it up again."_

@@thebonesaw..4634 Did I just read a sexy Lincoln fan-fiction?

If the cues had been removed due to fighting, why did they leave the balls out? Even if they weren't going to get used in a fight, they'd be bound to get chucked around or nicked or something.

POINTED STICK!?

Or a banana

or pineapples?

(John Cleese's voice) SHUT UP!

That's Harry Potter

She was on several times, one of the more frequent guests in fact.

@@ClarinoI I see. I'm still kinda new to QI. Thanks!

Dodging about was beneath the dignity of a gentleman. You stood there and waited. Same with pistols.

Didn't they have observers who would step in if somebody broke the rules? Sounds like the sort of thing that would be codified and standardised until it squeaked…

OTOH, dueling may have been tolerated by the authorities but murder was definitely illegal.

not my pantaloons! you win!

But a scratch can still leave you without any arms or legs.

Oddly it was not uncommon for the Victor to die a week after a duel

mso2013 the victor? why?

@@dilekben inner bleedings

And yet one more comment to this from me... at 1:40, Mr. Fry seems to wonder how M. Le Pique could miss A BALLOON with his first shot. But let's think about that for more than two seconds. If it were so sure that a balloon is hard to miss, how would M. Granpree then agree to be the second shooter.

WHAT?!

@@CyberLink70 I know. Sad, isn't it?

It's a QI "fact", so I'm not surprised.

[Citation needed]

They didn't say that Bismarck was liberal. They said that the scientist whom he challenged was liberal.

Color of Frye's tie lol